Umarex Notos Carbine .22 Caliber PCP Air Rifle

Super quiet & light weight, pretty accurate (up to 50 yards) and just perfect for children with the adjustable stock! Love this little Air Gun!

This PCP carbine is highly accurate with almost all pellets I put through it. It has a lot of other plus such as built in Picatinny rail instead of the weak 11mm we often see on pellet rifles. The short and compact size is great for use in limited space. The regulator maintains the air pressure at a constant level, which I think is 1,100 psi. User can tweak it to higher pressure to get high velocity. I did not mess with it since the factory setting works great and rodents can’t tell the difference if the pellet is 100 ft/sec faster. I found the sweet spot for best groups is at 1500 – 2500 psi.
The rifle is very well balanced and the AR15 style adjustable buttstock is awesome.
The integral sound suppressor is more than adequate to keep neighbors from being annoyed. I have got about 1,000 pellets down the barrel and so far so good…..no air leak yet.

On the minus side, its magazine requires some tweaking before being able to function. However, Umarex thoughtfully includes a single-shot tray in the package. Using the single-shot tray instead of the magazine produces better grouping as the pellet goes into the chamber on a straight line and its skirt is not deformed.
The trigger is two-stage and is gritty. There is an adjustment screw but I have not tried it out yet. When I have time I may break it down to see if there is a way to polish the trigger group to eliminate the gritty feeling.

The bottom line is this rifle is a great buy at $270 for someone starting out into the PCP world.

Update: It took 1500 rounds through the barrel for the rifle to really shine. I now am accustomed to the long and gritty trigger pull and that helps a lot. The magazine works great after four adjustments done. It holds pressure for several days without any leak. I think the barrel has also stabilized and I hardly get a flyer. At 30 yards all pellet holes touch each other. This is now my go to pellet rifle to keep the rodents under control around my garden. I have updated the rating to five stars from previous four stars.

Update 10/26/2024: I finally adjusted the trigger to practically do away with the long trigger pull. The trigger is still not as smooth as my Marauder, which I use as the standard to judge, but it is definitely a markedly enhancement to the factor set trigger. It shoots 1/2″ groups at 20 yards with the least expensive Gamo pellets I paid $15 for 950-count package. I now target practice with this combo.

I love air guns. Over a lifetime I have owned many types and brands: German Springers ($$$), pump-up Crossmans and Daisys, Cheap Chinese stuff, Slavias, Winchester, Benjamin, Beemans…lots of them. But this is my all-time favorite. Why? It is lightweight without feeling cheap. It is so quiet! It is easy to fill as it has a smaller reservoir for air, yet it shoots 25 consistent shots without refilling. It is regulated and gives repeated and accurate results. Speaking of that; its accuracy is nothing short of phenomenal when you consider barrel length. I was hitting a soup can at 60 yards in a seated position with little effort and a cheap 4x scope. It also shoots cheap and expensive pellets well. (It likes Barracuda Match the best over long distances, but Crossman Premiers also shoot well at reasonable distances and are dirt cheap. You can buy an upgraded Plenum from eBay if you want even more shots per fill.
Any drawbacks? The action is a little gritty in terms of loading when you first get it, and it is not as smooth of a trigger as the German Rekord on the R7 and R9s…but this is just picky stuff.
Just a bit of advice from a seasoned air gunner, buy an electric PCP pump. So worth not having to deal with a hand pump. A terrific carbine that shoots as well as some high-end German rifles which are more than 4x the cost. A no-brainer purchase. Get one!
Being as balanced in this reviews as I can: About the only thing that I can say as a negative is that the multi shot magazine is total garbage. The spring inside is weak and often fails or comes out of its small retaining hole. This ruins the magazine. Buy the internet sold aftermarket mags for the Notos instead. They do not fail and are not made in China garbage.

Fun. Good build quality for price